Apprentices: The Old and the New
by Balance in the Dark
Summary: This takes place during Aftershock Pt 1 & 2. Slade has second thoughts about who would be the best apprentice and Robin just might find himself in Terra's place. Not Slash
1. Second Thoughts

**Summary: This takes place during Aftershock Part 1. Slade has second thoughts about who would be the best apprentice. Slade's POV.**

**Disclaimer: I wish, I hope, I yearn….but still I own nothing.**

**Chapter 1 - Second Thoughts**

She was willing but did that truly make her the right one? She had power, yes. She was young and playable, yes. But beyond that what had she to offer?

She had potential, for course she did, (I wouldn't have even considered her if she didn't) but after a time I had found that it had reached its limit. Her powers were her limitation. She relied on them to much. Without them she was useless to me.

Of course as I watch her take out each of the Titans my doubts seemed to falter. She was inventive, cruel and underhanded. So good at playing the game… and winning. But then it was Robin's turn to face her.

They battled and as I watched, I compared them. The old and the new. Skill, power, speed. Their very potential to be my successor was under scrutiny.

Did I make the right chose when I let Robin go? When it came to my apprentice did I trade up or down? Was this powerful girl really the best chose? Did she posses all that I coveted and craved in an apprentice? Or… was she only as good as the neural connectors I had installed in her suit?

Yes, her leash was very powerful and with that I had her. Mind, body and soul.

I am a super villain… a 'criminal' as Robin would so venomously put it… and as such greed comes with the territory. As I watched them battle I came to realize that I didn't want just one… I wanted them both.

Robin was just _too _perfect not to have and as for Terra…well...you could never have enough servants now could you?

Yes, that was the answer. I would bend Robin to my will. It was always those 'friends' of his that were the problem, but now that my 'servant' has taken care of them, he will join me one way or another.

As I watch Terra raise a large chuck of earth to crush the Boy Wonder, I activated our link.

"Wait, Terra. I want to see the defeated leader for myself. Bring him in." She hesitated for a moment and then replied, "Yes Master." She broke off a smaller piece from the towering mound and effectively knocked out the boy.

**A/N Ok how was that? I don't have time to write out this story right now but I have always liked this idea and I felt like writing it. Laterness, BITD**


	2. Terra's Terrors

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the thoughts in my head…and those aren't worth much.**

**Chapter 2 - Terra's Terrors**

"He use to be your Apprentice? Why didn't you tell me?"

Slade stood his arms casually folded behind his back, belying his anger as his single eye narrowed dangerously at his soon to be _replaced_ Apprentice.

"Would it have mattered?"

Terra could hear the warning in his voice but she pressed on anyways. "He doesn't even have any powers! How could you have chosen him? He is unworthy of you, Master."

Slade's masked head turned and regarded the brightly colored figure on the ground at his feet, blood oozing from a head wound.

"True, he does not have powers and yet you were almost beaten by him." Terra stiffened at his words.

"But I wasn't defeated, Master! _I _beat _him _and I would have destroyed him if you hadn't of stopped me..."

"Do you question you master, young lady?"

Terra shook her head, vigorously. "No Master. Of course not but… I wanted to crush him, Master." At the last she curled her hand in to a fist to demonstrating her willingness to carry out her threat.

"So what do you want me to do with him? I could hang him on a wall as a testament to you power, Master. Or maybe dangle him from a street pole. He already looks like a traffic light…"

"No Terra that will not be necessary. I think I have a better use for the Boy Wonder then that." Slade's eye again drifting down to look at the unconscious boy.

"He _has_ potential after all."

A tight knot of panic twisted in her stomach as she caught the 'has' instead of 'had' in Slade's sentence.

_Was her master planning something involving Robin?_

She mentally shrugged at that thought. Her master was _always_ planning _something_…what?, she had no idea.

Slade pressed a button on his wrist and two bots came forward and collected the boy. Slade watched as they dragged his newly reacquired Apprentice away, the boy's iron shod boots making a dry scraping sound as they were pulled across the floor.

Slade turned back around to face his truly unworthy Apprentice. Her worried expression not going unnoticed as Slade said, "I will deal with the Leader. You go and patrol the city and make sure that those other _Titans _stay dead. They have a nasty habit of showing up after everyone thinks them gone for good. I shouldn't need to remind you of what happened with the HIVE, now should I?"

Again Slade caught that look of worry and…reluctance this time as she mumbled her farewell and left.

The last thing Terra thought before the door shut was, '_I shouldn't worry about Robin. After all Slade only needs one Apprentice.'_

**A/N Sorry about the shortness of the chapter but I have had this on my computer for a while and I thought it could be of more use here. I'm not sure how this story will play out but I did do a second chapter so that just might imply that there will be third. **

**If anyone feels inclined to steal and/or borrow this idea be my guest, just give me cred on the original 'plot bunny' and it's yours. Terra doesn't deserve to be Slade's Apprentice, in my opinion. Actually, I really **_**hate **_**her as Slade's Apprentice so have fun with this. Also please let me know if you do write a fic, I would love it read it!**

**Laterness, BITD**


	3. Betrayal’s a Two Way Street

5

**A/N Yay an update! It's amazing what you can get done when you don't have work or school hanging over you. Oh and thanks to my sister, she FINALLY helped me with this one. Is it just me or are these chapters getting longer?...read and find out. **

**Disclaimer: Not here, not there, not anywhere…do I own them.**

Chapter 3 – Betrayal's a Two Way Street

Robin awoke his skull feeling like a mountain had fallen on top of him. Sitting up he put a hand to his head and felt the bandage there. What had happened?

Robin sat up straighter…Terra. That traitor. What had she done now? Why was he here?

Robin finally turned and took in his surrounding. The room was small and almost completely bare except for the bed he was lying on. He glanced around the room, there were no windows and two doors. Looking down, he checked for any other sign of injuries, but everything seemed fine. He had his mask, cape, and most importantly, his gloves. The only thing missing was his belt. But then again he hadn't really thought that they would simply let him keep it.

Robin stood, intent on escaping through one of the doors, but the sudden change of position caused his wound to give a terrible throb. Robin clutched his head in pain leaning on the wall for support.

Damn. Why did she have to hit me so hard?

After a moment's pause Robin stumbled over to the first door. It was a closet and it was empty. He closed the door and moved on to the next.

Robin tried the knob, unsurprisingly it was locked and obviously the way out. Robin pressed a special pressure pad on his gloves. A lock pick sprang from a finger tip. A few painstaking moments later, he had the door open.

All too easy, he thought. He might have had a more difficult time without his belt if they had restrained him, but a simple locked door was nothing.

Peering out into the hallway, Robin checked to make sure that the coast was clear. Seeing no one, he casually left the room and moved off down the hall. If Terra had brought him here…did that mean that _Slade_ had wanted him here? Robin pushed that thought away. He needed to get out of here first and make sure that the others were ok. _Then _he would worry about what Slade and that double-crosser was up to.

He passed door after door, many of them locked but none of them a way out. Robin had been walking for several minutes by now and he had not seen anyone in all that time. No Slade, no Terra, not even a robot he could follow out of this place. The last thing he wanted was to get lost in Slade's lair. Forever lost in this madman's home? What a nightmarish thought.

Rounding another corner, Robin pressed himself against that outside wall. He could tell that there was a change in lighting up ahead. And that mumble of voices meant…there was someone in the next room. Terra and Slade? He wasn't sure.

Moving slowly and cautiously he eased his way down the hall, trying to get close enough to overhear what they were saying.

He could tell that the hallway ended in a large room, with odd orange stained-glass windows all along the wall. He tried not to make a sound as he listened hard.

"I didn't find any sign of the Titans, Master. Like I said I wouldn't. They're gone for good. All except for…"

"Robin." Slade finished for her, but continued. "Why don't you join us, my boy?"

Gritting his teeth, Robin made his way out into the room. The strange windows stretched from ceiling to floor and he counted at least 6 different corridor's leading out of the room. Slade sat on an all too familiar throne up on a dais, while Terra was at its foot, glaring at him as he entered.

"I'm not your _boy_, Slade."

"Of course you are. You have always belonged to me."

Robin hands balled themselves into fist and his masked eyes narrowed. "I don't belong to anyone, least of all _you_."

Terra glared at the other teen. "How did you get out of your room? I locked you in."

Robin shrugged, "trade secret."

"He had a hidden lock pick, Terra. Try and keep up." Terra looked back at her master slightly hurt.

Robin hid his smirk. Being Slade's apprentice wasn't exactly peaches and cream. _Is it Terra_, he though to himself. She'd learn. Slade was a cruel manipulative sadistic bastard and she was a fool to have chosen him over the Titans. If she didn't regret it now, she would one day and he for one wasn't going to offer her a third chance to betray them. Two chances were more than enough.

"Since you both seem to be having a tinder master-apprentice moment. If you could just show me the way out, I'd leave you two alone."

"Shut up, bird boy. Master is going to make an example out of you. Aren't you Master?" She smiled up at Slade, trying to win him over.

"You are the one that needs to be silent, Terra. I don't remember giving you permission to speak for me."

Her smile withered under his icy stare and she mumbled, "No, Master. I'm sorry Master."

Slade shifted his gaze back to the tattered Boy Wonder. "Terra, go to your room. I want to have a talk with Robin."

Robin just caught her worried look in his direction before it was replaced with anger. She pressed her lips together and left the room going in the opposite direction that Robin had entered from. He filed that knowledge away for later.

"And what do you want to talk about Slade?" Robin was slightly anxious but he didn't let any of it show. He was trapped in the devil's labyrinth with no way out. Where was a magic ball of string when you needed one?

Slade rose from his throne and moved closer, not close enough for Robin to feel threaten, but closer. "I'm glad you asked. I am in need of an apprentice."

Robin looked at him confused. "You already have an apprentice."

"Terra? Come now Robin. I'm sure that you're aware that she can't compare to you."

"But, her powers?" Dread colored his thoughts. Did Slade really mean…?

"Oh yes. She _is_ powerful Robin, but with me in control of her suit. I have all her powers and more with just _a push of a button_." Robin suppressed a shutter at his last words, remembering.

"No Robin, I need someone to teach who actually has some potential to be great. Terra is defined by her powers. They limit her. The only limits that you posses are self inflicted. I will help you break those barriers, my boy. Then you will reach you true potential as my one and true apprentice."

Robin shook his head, trying to deny what Slade was telling him. He glanced madly around the room. There were too many pathways. Which one was the exit?

"Trying to escape Robin? Where would you go? The city is deserted and the Titians are gone. Destroyed by one you all though a _friend._ With them gone, so goes you first limitation-your first barrier. I have told you before Apprentice. You don't need any friends."

"I'm _not _your apprentice!"

"Stop denying it, Robin. You no longer have to worry about the Titians getting in your way and if the Bat comes _flapping_ around I will take care of him as well."

"No, Slade. I will not become your apprentice. Not again!" And with those parting words Robin sprinted across the room and took the same passage as Terra. He never looked back and Slade made no move to follow him, only watched him go.

As soon as Robin entered the hallway he ran head first into someone.

"Terra?"

"Oww, watch where you're going, Boy Blunder."

Robin gave her a frightened look and then pushed pass her, fleeing.

Terra watched him go before reentering Slade's throne room. "Master? Should I go after him?"

Slade looked at her carefully before answering, "No, Terra. Let him go. He won't get far." Slade having retaken his seat pressed a button on the arm of his throne and a screen came to life. It showed his desperate and trapped Apprentice, only the boy didn't know it yet.

"Why have you returned?"

"There is a report about some activity in sector three. I'm going to check it out."

Slade nodded, "Yes, see to it."

Terra bowed and walked to an apparently empty stretch of the stone wall. Placing a gloved hand on a hidden panel a door opened, that had blended perfectly into the barrier. She stepped in and the elevator, the only safe exit from Slade's lair, lifted her up to the city.

When she was alone patrolling the city, she finally let her tears fall. Her master had betrayed her. She meant nothing to him. She had given it all up, her friends, her life, to belong to him and he didn't care…

He only cared about _Robin_. That stupid, cocky, spiky haired…_nothing_. He was nothing. And she was going to prove it to her master.

**A/N I have also started on chapter 4. I'm really on a ball this holiday! Oh and if you're wondering where the 'magic ball of string' comment came from. It's a Greek Myth, Theseus and the Minotaur. Go look it up. **

**Laterness, BITD**


	4. Titan's Return

6

**A/N Sorry for the excruciatingly long delay, but I just could not seem to bring myself to write out the fight scene. Other than that I have no excuses…so…um enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: If only I owned Slade and Robin…they can keep Terra, but alas I own none. **

Chapter 4 –Titan's Return

Robin didn't know where he was going but _anywhere _was better then with Slade. After some time he stopped and leaned against the wall of the corridor as he caught his breath. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the wall. The cool stone felt so _good_ to his aching head. The wound that Terra had given him still throbbed with a vengeance. Stress and anxiety were in no way cures for head trauma. Robin slowly slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor of the hallway.

As he sat there, Robin's mind couldn't help but wonder about Terra. After all she had done, she too, had ended up betrayed. Slade really was a bastard, but could he really blame Terra for any of this? Slade was after all, a master of manipulation. He knew how to take your thoughts, your desires and twist them into some perverted _truth _of his own design. That always seemed to serve the villain's aims more than anything.

So in that sense, Terra was a victim.

Robin put a hand to his head, feeling his wound. Yeah she was a victim but that didn't make her totally innocent either. She had had her second chance and wasted it.

If she would rather be with Slade as a servant that with the Titans, then so be it. He wasn't going to help her out of this. It was her mess, her choice and she would have to pay the price of having Slade as a master… but he _wasn't_. He was going to get out of here and find his friends.

He had lost contact with them before his run-in with Terra but he wasn't worried. He knew they could take care of themselves. They would regroup and he would find them just as soon as he could get out of here. But here, he was almost sure was somewhere underground. The carved stone of the corridor reinforced his assumption. There were also no windows except the ones in Slade's throne room.

Robin looked back down the hall from where he had come. If he hadn't run into someone or something by now, did that mean that Slade wanted him to keep going? Was this some kind of test? He really hoped not. He was done with playing Slade's little game of cat and mouse. And he was tired. All of a sudden _really _tired. Robin's eyes started to droop and he jerked himself awake.

No, no time for that now, he had to keep going but… this was stupid. He had no idea where he was heading. These hallways could go on forever for all he knew. Sighing Robin got back to his feet only to have his knees buckle under his weight. He wasn't _that _tired! Had Slade given him something?

Robin tried again to get up but his legs could no longer support him. And that's when he heard it.

Footsteps.

Several pairs of footsteps.

Sladebots.

Robin, again desperate to escape started to crawl his way down the hall, get to one of those rooms and hid, but it was no use. A minute later, Robin felt hard metal hands grip his shoulders and pulled him upright.

"No, let me go!" He struggled but a strange numbness, had settled itself in his muscles. There was no escape.

A short and uncomfortable trip later and Robin found himself again in the throne room. No Terra this time…only Slade.

"Robin. Did you enjoy your self guided tour?" Robin hung limply in the sladebots arms and glared back at the villain.

"Your wasting you efforts Slade. I'm never going to be your apprentice." His voice sounded weak even to his own ears.

Slade chuckled.

"My boy, you say that as if you have a choice in the matter."

Robin's head fell forward slightly as he tried to remain awake, "I do…have…choice…"

Slade moved closer. "Tired, Robin?"

"What did..you..give…me?" His lips felt dry and numb as he asked the question.

"Just an immobilizing toxin. It's almost completely undetectable. Although it sometimes gives it's users a headache. But because of Terra's…_care_ of you I didn't think you would notice. Running away was really not a good idea. It sped up the process."

"My friends…will…stop you." Robin couldn't hold his head up anymore. He was just too tired.

"They're gone Robin and they're not coming back. Rest well, Apprentice. You have a lot of training to catch up on."

Slade turned back to his monitors as the sladebots took Robin away, this time to his real room, the one that was being prepared when he was in the first, the one that he would not escape from.

***

Above in the city, Terra was scouting out sector three, where the disturbance had originated. Masses of fog obscured parts of the city as she moved silently thorough the streets.

Her gaze was watchful as she passed countless sladebots stationed on every corner and then the bank where she recalled having had stopped Mumbo from getting away all on her own.

When she came to the end of the street where the Titans would always go for pizza a sudden memory of her and the Titans laughing together shadowed her thoughts. But she was brought back to the present when she noticed the street was littered with broken pieces of robots.

Someone must have stayed behind; someone that wasn't going to be around much longer, she promised.

She turned to take in more of the street from her high perch on top of a floating rock, when a blast of green energy shattered the rock and Terra fell the few feet to the ground, landing hard.

When she moved to get up she saw very familiar silhouettes in the fog. " No! I destroyed you!"

She couldn't help herself crawling back in fear before Slade's teaching came back to her and she attacked.

Her eyes glowed yellow as she sent a blast of dirt and rubble at their shapes. A second later she was disappointed to see that she had hit nothing but and old car. Nervously she backed away but she couldn't see anyone through the wall of low clouds that were surrounding her.

Running footsteps, to her left.

No, to the right.

Was that an animal panting behind her? She couldn't tell, she couldn't see them.

She was hit hard from behind, when head over feet and landed on her stomach. She saw it was Cyborg but as she straightened up to return the favor, she was hit from the side. The sudden flash of green in the gloom dazing her just a little as she was suddenly airborne again. She fell yet again and skidded to a stop, luckily her armor had mostly protected her.

Shadows were moving in from her right, feeling very apprehensive she lifted herself away. Only to yet again have the earth literally crumble under her feet, this time by a Cyborg's sonic cannon.

Her landing this time was much more graceful, she settled down into a crouch.

Where were her master's robots? Where was her master? Why wasn't he giving her any advice?

This time she saw the attack coming, green lasers. She raised a wall to protect herself but even as she blocked this frontal attack, Cyborg hit her again.

She struggled to her feet. She wasn't going to let these misfits beat her.

She saw Cyborg coming at her again and used her raw power to push him away until the raven came up from below her, gripping here tightly in its talons.

"What have you done with Robin?" Raven's voice echoed in the darkness.

Terra didn't answer but used a large piece of concrete to push herself out of the bird's grasp. She needed to get out of here, they had too much of an advantage. She tried to fly away but yet again, she was shot down.

She heard vicious snarling coming from right in front of her, the shape was four legged and hairy.

"Beastboy, stop. Aren't you even going to talk to me?" The snarling if possible got even more ferocious.

"He has nothing to say to a traitor like you," Cybrog gruffly answered.

"What have you done with our Robin?"

"Tell us and we might reconsider kicking your butt, although that won't stop us from taking you in."

Should she tell them? No, no she wouldn't that might strengthen their resolve to fight.

"Robin's gone. Slade's taken care of him." All the Titans attacked as one but this time instead of making a wall to deflect their attacks she made a dome. Then as soon as it was done she blasted her way through the earth at her feet, forging a tunnel to escape. So even if they tried to follow her, they would be surrounding by her own weapon of choice, the earth itself.

**A/N If you haven't noticed yet this is not a story for Terra lovers and its only downhill from here. Please R&R, let me know what you guys think, and if I should continue or not.**

**Laterness, BITD**


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